ROLE OF STRATEGIC PERTENERSHIP OF INDUSTRY ACADEMIA IN SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Skill Development is gaining tremendous importance in our country in recent years. The lack of employability as an outcome of the education system has given rise to the need for skill based education. The development and economic growth of India will be accelerated if the youth of our country get Skill Development and acquire relevant skills. A new generation of youth with many skills is necessary for India to make the transition to a knowledge-based economy. Its ability to successfully develop, share, and apply knowledge will decide its competitive edge. In order to succeed in a knowledge economy, India must produce workers — knowledge workers and knowledge technologists — who are adaptable, analytical, and capable of being the engine for growth and innovation. India requires a flexible educational system to accomplish this: the development of key competencies in secondary and postsecondary education; basic education to lay the groundwork for learning. India needs a flexible educational system to improve core competencies and practical skills; and additional ways to promote lifelong learning In order to adapt the educational system to the new global context, creativity must be encouraged and training and education quality must be improved at all levels. The research thesis entitled “Role of Strategic Partnership of Industry Academia in Skill Development” is written with intention to explore industry role towards skill development, and to know the various aspects of industrial collaborations and their impact on the skill ecosystem of the country. Present study is guided by following research objectives to have an overview about the skill ecosystem of India and to explore the role of industry in skill development in India and its future potential. In order to understand the industry perspective on the advantages and policy requirements for skill development in India, we need to develop a policy/strategic framework for industry association in skill development. In order to satisfy the relevant objective, this research is designed to be a descriptive as well as exploratory in nature, as the research is supposed to be about finding the facts and drawing the conclusions. Based on the study, it is also about exploring something new to some extent. The larger study in this area uses primarily qualitative methods in that it focuses mostly on content analysis. v In the sequence of discussing all key topics of this research it is indispensable now to focus the main objective of the research and chapter plan as well. The foremost focus of this study is to explore and understand the Role of Strategic Partnership done between Industry and Academia in Skill development. The study has shown a good effort in enumerating the key objective of the research through the perspective of faculty and students. The research has made a first of its own kind of effort to draw the understanding of the Role of Strategic Partnership done between Industry and Academia in Skill development with the involvement of all key stakeholders in this domain. The study has gained the perception from the following key stakeholders; like trainers or educators, administrators, industry experts and Students. The present study is divided into seven chapters and details of these chapters have been discussed in Introduction chapter. First chapter gives detail discussions about skill development eco-system. It covers the role of state and central government in India, the various policies and the strength-weaknesses of the skill development system. It also provides a discussion on the role of industry academic partnership in skill development. The chapter second has reviewed the literatures related to the research area, objectives and methodology. The review covers the various studies in different countries and the role of industry, government and institutions in skill development. Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is has become the differentiator of this chapter, it has been conducted on the research papers having studies in the area of skill development that had been carried out in Indian context. The chapter concludes with identifying the gaps in literature. The influence of skill training, the expectation of training, and the abilities that training are transferring to the students are the main topics of the research. Research Methodology, research design, sampling, research objective, sources of data collection, limitations & scope with significance of the study is widely been discussed in the chapter three. It also integrates the sources of data information along with the research tools & techniques such as Descriptive Statistics, Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Generalized linear model etc. Students Perception of Skill Education is been shown in chapter four. This chapter provides the results and discussion of the responses received from the students on a structured questionnaire to understand the student’s perspective on skill development. The trainer-trainee relationship, according to the model presented in chapter, functions best when there is stronger industry backing and institution infrastructure. Chapter five is about understanding academia industry association and gaining insights on it by capturing the perception of Trainers, Administration and Industry. vi This chapter covers the results and discussions of the responses received on the structured questionnaire from the industry executives, trainers, government officials and institution administration. The analysis helps in understanding the role of industry academia partnership in enhancing the quality of skill development. The urgent need for employability skills has been argued as a means of enhancing job results, assisting individuals in adjusting to change, and enhancing their employment prospects. The sixth chapter identifies the drivers and enablers of developing educational skill excellence centres and then using the technique of Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) develops the diagraph which provides the key driver and enabler having high driving power. The results suggests that the skill-based education sector, requires a lot of changes and scrutiny to resolve the issue of unemployable youths in Indian economy. It is a time of call for action to address various issues of skill-based education. Last chapter compiles the key results and provide the conclusions based on the research carried out on role of industry academia partnership in skill development. The chapter also includes the limitations of the study and scope for future research. It came with the conclusion that, for India to maintain its competitive advantage, the educational institutions need to produce industry –ready candidates. This requires substantial intervention on part of higher education institutions to impart IT skills to students.